Hurricane Beryl hits Caribbean

Earlier Tropical Storm Beryl has strengthened into a hurricane and is expected to cause hazardous conditions and is heading towards the Caribbean, where World Cup Twenty22 cricket fans are bracing for the storm.

Beryl is the second named storm expected during an unusually busy hurricane season this year, with forecasters predicting the region could see as many as 25 named storms this season, nearly double the average number.

Tropical Storm Beryl strengthened into a hurricane as it moved toward the southeastern Caribbean Sea on Saturday (local time). Forecasters warned that it was expected to develop into a dangerously severe storm before reaching Barbados late Sunday or early Monday.

Major hurricanes are Category 3 or higher, with winds of at least 178 km/h. Hurricane Beryl was a Category 1 on Saturday afternoon.

How severe is Beryl for those in its path?

“We need to be prepared,” Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said in a public address Friday evening. “You know as well as I do that when these things happen, it’s best to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

She noted that thousands of people had come to Barbados to watch the Twenty20 World Cup cricket final, where India will beat South Africa in the capital, Bridgetown, on Saturday.

Some fans, like Shashank Musku, a 33-year-old doctor who lives in Pittsburgh, were scrambling to change flights so they could leave before the storm.

Musku said by phone that he had never been through a hurricane: “I don’t plan to be through one.”

He and his wife, who were supporters of the Indian team, learned about Beryl’s situation when a taxi driver mentioned the storm.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said in a public address on Saturday that shelters would open Sunday night and he urged people to prepare. He ordered officials to refuel government vehicles and asked grocery stores and gas stations to extend their hours ahead of the storm.

“If time is limited, the flow will be very heavy,” he said, apologising in advance for the government’s interruption of radio stations broadcasting updates on the storm. “Cricket fans have to bear with us, we have to give information … This is a matter of life and death.”

Beryl is the second named storm in what is expected to be a busy hurricane season this year, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 across the Atlantic. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall in northeastern Mexico, bringing heavy rains and Four people died.

Lowry noted that only five named storms have formed in the tropical Atlantic east of the Caribbean in June since 1851, and only one of them was a hurricane. One of those was the first hurricane in 1933, during the most active hurricane season on record, he said.

Mark Spence, manager of a hotel in Barbados, said by telephone that he was calm about the approaching storm.

“This is storm season. A storm can hit at any time,” he said. “I am always prepared. I always have enough food at home.”

NOAA predicts the 2024 hurricane season could be well above average, with 17 to 25 named storms. The forecast calls for up to 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

The average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, of which seven are hurricanes and three are major hurricanes.

Beryl is expected to bring up to 15 centimetres of rainfall to Barbados and nearby islands, and a surf warning for seas up to 4 metres is in effect. A storm surge of up to 2 metres is expected.

Which way can Beryl go?

Barbados Meteorological Department Director Sabu Best said the centre of Beryl is expected to pass about 45 kilometres south of Barbados.

Forecasters then expected the storm to move across the Caribbean Sea, toward Jamaica and eventually Mexico.

As of late Saturday afternoon, Beryl was located approximately 1,160 km east-southeast of Barbados with maximum sustained winds of 120 km/h. It was moving westward at 35 km/h.

The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said: “Rapid intensification is currently forecast.”

Tomer Burg, an atmospheric science researcher, noted that on Friday, Beryl was just a tropical depression with winds of 56 km/h.

“This means that based on preliminary data, Beryl met the criteria for rapid intensification before becoming a hurricane,” he wrote on social media platform X.

Warm waters are powering the Beryl Sea, pushing ocean heat content in the deep Atlantic to its highest level for this time of year, said Brian McNoldy, a tropical meteorology researcher at the University of Miami.

Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University, said Beryl was also the strongest June tropical storm on record in the eastern tropical Atlantic.

An unusually early hurricane

Klotzbach said it was the most easterly hurricane to form in the tropical Atlantic in June, breaking the record set in 1933.

A hurricane warning was issued for Barbados, while a hurricane watch was issued for St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. A tropical storm watch was issued for Martinique, Dominica, and Tobago.

“Major (category 3+) hurricanes are not forecast anywhere in the Atlantic in June, let alone this far east in the tropics,” Florida hurricane expert Michael Lowry posted on social media platform X. “#Beryl is forming fast over the warmest waters ever recorded for late June.”

Beryl exacerbated other severe weather events in the region

Just days earlier, Port of Spain, the capital of the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, suffered extensive flooding due to an unrelated weather event as the storm approached the southeastern Caribbean.

Caribbean leaders are concerned not only about Hurricane Beryl but also about the cluster of thunderstorms moving in its wake, which has a 70 percent chance of developing into a tropical depression by the middle of next week.

Meanwhile, an unnamed storm in early June dumped more than 50 centimeters of rain on parts of South Florida, stranding motorists on flooded streets and washing away homes in low-lying areas.

– Associated Press